I find a lot of European based forums have more information on them than American ones when it comes to wild bettas as they seem particularly popular over there. Unfortunately a lot of the time the text is in German or something like that so I just have to either use an online translation and sift through the gibberish or look at the pictures haha.

I'm contemplating contacting Xtrembetta and seeing if he has any uberis or burdigala pairs for sale again as I cannot tell for the life of me whether I have all males, a couple of females and some males or what. There was a mix-up with the last shipment (he didn't use waterproof texta so all the labels washed off) and I was never sure whether I did in fact get my proper fish.

Of course at the moment I am poor and jobless so I might set-up a spawning specific tank first and see if i can't get one of my 'pairs' to actually spawn.

The guy who owns my LFS and who I convince to order obscure fish in for me had two pairs of young macrostoma in the other day. I don't like big jumpy fish but my mum loves the entire unimaculata complex, so of course she wanted me to get a pair.

Having dealt with my unimaculata and their incessant jumping issues and suicide attempts, I could not imagine dolling out the couple of hundred bucks a pair here brings and finding it turned to a fish crispie on the floor.

I find a lot of European based forums have more information on them than American ones when it comes to wild bettas as they seem particularly popular over there. Unfortunately a lot of the time the text is in German or something like that so I just have to either use an online translation and sift through the gibberish or look at the pictures haha.

Thanks for the tip!

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleBettaFish

Having dealt with my unimaculata and their incessant jumping issues and suicide attempts, I could not imagine dolling out the couple of hundred bucks a pair here brings and finding it turned to a fish crispie on the floor.

Good point, this too. They would require a specialized (expensive/time consuming) tank to ensure they can't escape, and apparently even this would not necessarily be foolproof. Still, maybe some day I will have the money and skills to make a go at it. It's possible to find a pair or juvenile group here in the U.S. for $100 if you know where to look.

So I finally have a bit of extra money and I'm thinking about adding another mouthbrooding species to my collection. Probably a smaller species. I'm thinking maybe rutilans or brownorum? I'll have to do more reading up on them to decide, but that's kind of the direction I'm heading in.

Rutilans and brownorum are not mouthbrooders per say. My dominant brownorum male and two rutilans males do it for some reason known only to them (it is recorded as occurring with this complex), but otherwise they are submerged bubblenesters.

I've found my coccina complex bettas prefer to build bubblenests in things such as terracotta pots, PVC pipe, hollow logs and old film canisters rather than at the surface like splendens do.

You have to have really really soft water with a very low pH value (think below 6) to be successful with these fish. They can be sensitive to water quality and velvet is quite common, particularly with the fry. It is also very difficult to spot due to their colouration.

Rutilans are actually quite aggressive in my experience so I would recommend only a pair. My pair that spawn almost continuously are very rough in courtship and my female came out missing half her dorsal fin and some scales when they last spawned.

Brownorum are slightly more peaceful. But for the best breeding results I would again recommend one pair to a tank.

Parents will not eat fry so you can grow them out alongside them. They are quite slow growers in comparison to splendens and I think it takes them around 8-12 months to reach maturity.

Best set-up I have found for these species, is one that is dimly lit, with a dark coloured substrate (I just use boiled peat moss now and nothing else), heaps of IAL and a lot of java moss for them to hide in.

They can be quite a timid complex so do not be surprised if a lot of the time you don't actually see them. They are personally my favourite complex due to their size, personality and spectacular colouring but they do require a bit more specialist care than something like an imbellis.

Rutilans and brownorum are not mouthbrooders per say. My dominant brownorum male and two rutilans males do it for some reason known only to them (it is recorded as occurring with this complex), but otherwise they are submerged bubblenesters.

I've found my coccina complex bettas prefer to build bubblenests in things such as terracotta pots, PVC pipe, hollow logs and old film canisters rather than at the surface like splendens do.

You have to have really really soft water with a very low pH value (think below 6) to be successful with these fish. They can be sensitive to water quality and velvet is quite common, particularly with the fry. It is also very difficult to spot due to their colouration.

Rutilans are actually quite aggressive in my experience so I would recommend only a pair. My pair that spawn almost continuously are very rough in courtship and my female came out missing half her dorsal fin and some scales when they last spawned.

Brownorum are slightly more peaceful. But for the best breeding results I would again recommend one pair to a tank.

Parents will not eat fry so you can grow them out alongside them. They are quite slow growers in comparison to splendens and I think it takes them around 8-12 months to reach maturity.

Best set-up I have found for these species, is one that is dimly lit, with a dark coloured substrate (I just use boiled peat moss now and nothing else), heaps of IAL and a lot of java moss for them to hide in.

They can be quite a timid complex so do not be surprised if a lot of the time you don't actually see them. They are personally my favourite complex due to their size, personality and spectacular colouring but they do require a bit more specialist care than something like an imbellis.

Thanks so much for the information, this is exactly what I needed. I have heard that the fish in this complex can switch between mouth brooding and bubble nesting and no one seems to know why, or what causes them to choose one over the other :P

I will have to experiment with lowering my pH with peat moss and see if I can make it stable and low. The natural pH of my water is a bit too high. I'm wary of using more complicated methods so if the peat moss doesn't do the trick I may have to skip these guys and go for a species that is less sensitive to a higher pH.

I tend to stick with the coccina complex so haven't had any experience with simplex. They seem to be pretty non-fussy and hardy from what I have seen and read so they might be a better option for you if you don't want to mess too much with your water quality.

Strohi, like Hallyx mentioned, are a beautiful fish if you had an interest in those. Sort of like a bigger version of a coccina complex betta. My pair were quite prolific but the male could be aggressive when he was holding. The fry grew quite quickly and were easy to raise.